1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to awnings of fabric or other supple material which are mounted on rigid frames, especially house trailers and recreational vehicles awnings. More particularly, this invention involves the provision of collapsible bowed ribs to support the fabric so as to provide additional stability during windy conditions, provide additional room clearance, and prevent the accumulation of water and debris on the top side of the awning.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Awnings today are a very common accessory for house trailers and recreational vehicles. Bowed supports have been designed specifically for use with boat covers and for use with tents. However, these designs are not particularly suited for use with house trailers or recreational vehicles. A house trailer or recreational vehicle usually lacks any sort of porch roof or other outside shade, but is much in need of such an overhead cover for rain and sun protection.
This need has led to various designs for stow-away awnings that fit on the side of house trailers or recreational vehicles to provide cover when opened, and also store compactly and securely. The most common design uses a roller tube around which the awning is wrapped when not in use. The deficiencies of these designs were discussed in the earlier patent of the applicant, U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,393, ('393 patent) issued on Apr. 20, 1993.
The '393 patent discloses an awning support system which used plural ribs disposed against the underside of awning. The ribs run transversely from the wall to a tub which supports the awning. These ribs are flexible and acquire an upward bow when put into place.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,066, issued to Jacob Folb on Dec. 28, 1965, discloses Bow Sockets for use with a boat cover. The bow sockets, which are applied to the inside face of a boat side rail, have a generally rectangular cross section with a through aperture to receive the ends of a canvas support bow. Also disclosed is the use of an interlocking sleeve for joining the ends of two support bows to form a arched support structure. However, this patent does not disclose a bowed support capable of telescoping adjustment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,400, issued to James L. Sattler on Sep. 10, 1974, discloses an Awning Construction in which an awning fabric is secured to a trailer and supported by a frame which includes a front bar, a pair of side arms at the sides of the front bar, and rafters extending from a vehicle to the front bar. This invention fails to provide for rigid bowed support ribs between the side arms which may be telescopically adjusted to fit various size awnings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,723, issued to Marvin A. Bareis et al. on Feb. 28, 1978, discloses a Boat Cover Means which includes a cover of flexible resilient sheet material and a flexible and resilient rib adapted to extend in arched configuration over a boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,667, issued to Ching-Poa Chung on Oct. 19, 1993, discloses a Collapsible Tubular Frame for use with tents. The frame of this invention includes a plurality of curved tubes having the same length and curvature but different diameters for shrinking into a largest-diameter curved tube one after another so as to be become very short when being shrunk.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.